Purpose of Wrist Snaps

What is the value of a wrist snap drill? It does not seem to add anything. My DD has been to multiple coaches over the years and the last 2 more or less have said it is a worthless drill. Now she is in college and the coach is teaching it again. This coach doesn't have any formal training and only knows what he has learned in the last 3 years that his DD has been taking lessons. She is 14.

We learned to do wrist snaps early on but stopped pretty quickly. They didn't do any good for mine and seemed to actually be counterproductive.

cthur said:

What is the value of a wrist snap drill?

Click to expand...

The main value is to waste 10 minutes of your DD's lesson and line the pocket of the pitching coach for doing next to nothing. Correction: For doing absolutely nothing.

Personally I don't believe in standing flat foot and doing any "drill". Especially one that promotes the locking of the elbow. The majority of "wrist snap drills" do nothing except lock the elbow and keep the feet still. That's craziness. Instead, whip the elbow and exaggerate the follow through to the opposite shoulder. If the elbow whips, snaps, or whatever verb you wanna use... the wrist will automatically follow. This is what you want. Wrist only will not only promote what I said but these things can lead to soreness of the shoulder.... just imagine teaching yourself to throw overhand without your elbow. Not only will you limit your velocity but you will lose ability to throw various pitches and get sore quickly.

So, go ahead and do wrist snaps, just make sure the elbow snaps first. Then the wrist and fingers will follow in that order.

Bill

When my DD was in 12u, think she was 11, we went to a USC Upstate January camp, it was brutally cold ! So cold that Rick Pauly had the after lunch pitching clinic in the gym. He had a team pitcher and catcher demoing the correct way to warm up and he told all the young girls to NEVER spend another minute of their lives doing wrist flips or finishing with a high elbow (HE) ! There was a dad/coach probably standing within 10 feet of me who whistled and got two girls attention and said "get up, let's go"! Rick never even turned around to acknowledge the guy, like it didn't even happen. A lot of people had that look like WTH just happened? I thought it was hilarious. She's 14 now.

Well, to be fair, it's entirely possible that guy knows a lot more about pitching than Rick does. LOL!!

Bill

Some people get very upset when what they think they know is challenged. I have found it in all walks of life, not just softball.

My dd started pitching at 12u of course we googled how to pitch, wrist snaps were one of the things that kept popping up so she did those, then every PC we tried recommended them also. Most told her to hold a stick behind her back,in front of her forearm, lock the elbow and snap wrist. The bad pitching tips are plentiful! She was also told to stride out as far as possible, doing the splits everytime. And to slam the door, to field her position. There's probably more but thankfully I have forgotten!

Wrist snaps are a waste of time imo

I hate tacos- said no Juan anywhere